Continuing Education and Training Act, 2006 (Act No. 16 of 2006)

Notices

National Norms and Standards for Funding Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges

D. Formula Funding of Programmes

40 - 52. The in-line part of the formula funding grid

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40.The following paragraphs describe the meaning of each of the columns, from left to right, of the in-line part of the formula funding grid appearing in Annexure A. The in-line part of the formula funding grid indicates the programme choice and information from the national register of approved TVET College programmes. The information in the columns influences the formula funding of the college.

 

41.DHET programme code: This is the unique identifier of a programme included in the register of nationally approved TVET College programmes.

 

42.National Qualifications Framework Organising field: This is the organising field of the programme. (i.e. 06: Manufacturing, Engineering and Technology)

 

43.National Qualifications Framework level: This is the NQF level of the programme (i.e. NQF Level 02)

 

44.SAQA credits: This is the number of credits that the programme carries within the NQF. This is indicated in the register of nationally approved TVET College programmes. (i.e. 130 credits)

 

45.Programme duration: This is the duration of the programme in terms of the academic year. The value is a number expressed to two decimal places, and may be 1.00 or less than 1.00. A value of 1.00 indicates that the programme covers one academic year on a full-time basis. In the case of the approved National Certificate (Vocational) (NC(V)) TVET programmes, each programme has by definition a programme duration of 1.00. With respect to other programmes, SAQA specifications, relating for instance to the contact time required for the programme, should guide the determination of the programme duration wherever possible. In the absence of some other benchmark stipulated in policy, the applicable benchmark is that a full-time programme is one that involves 1200 hours of contact time. For example, a programme that covers only 300 hours of contact time would have programme duration of 0.4. A programme with programme duration of 1.00 in one line of the formula funding grid may reappear in another line with lower programme duration, if the same programme is also being offered part-time to another group of students.

 

46.Funding weights (by economic category): This is a weight attached to each economic category of each nationally approved TVET programme to represent the cost of delivering the programme relative to the funding rate (explained in paragraph 87). The economic categories to be used are (1) personnel cost, (2) capital infrastructure cost and (3) non-personnel non-capital (or 'npnc' or non-personnel recurrent) cost. A specific programme may therefore have the funding weights 1.0, 1.1 and 1.3 for the personnel, capital and 'npnc' categories respectively. The funding weight is always expressed to one decimal point. A funding weight of 1.0 means that the cost of delivering the programme with respect to the economic category in question is equal to the funding base rate value for that category. A personnel funding weight of 1.1, to take an example, would mean that the actual delivery cost with respect to personnel is 10% higher than what is indicated in the funding base rate for personnel. Funding weight values are specified on the register of nationally approved TVET College programmes. All programmes would have funding weights specified. When a funding weight is multiplied by the corresponding economic category of the funding base rate (described in paragraph 86), the expected cost as determined by the DHET is obtained.

 

47.Assumed fee level: This is an indicator ranging in value from 0.00 to 1.00 that indicates the expected level of fee-charging for each programme on the register of nationally approved TVET College programmes. A value of 0.20 would indicate that the DHET expected 20% of the full cost of the programme to be covered through college fees. The assumed fee level must be informed by clear analysis of historical trends with respect to college fees and the education and training market in general.

 

48.Actual total funding weight: This is the weight that indicates the allocation that will be transferred to the college per programme and per full-time equivalent student, relative to the overall funding rate (explained in paragraph 88). A value of 1.00 indicates that the allocation is expected to be equal to the overall funding base rate. The actual total funding weight (ATFW) takes into account several things: programme cost as reflected in the funding weights (FWp, FWc and FWn); the funding base rates per economic category as determined by the DHET (FRp, FRc, FRn and their sum FRTot); and the assumed fee level for the programme (AFL). Each funding weight is multiplied by the corresponding funding base rate, and the sum of the three values is then adjusted downwards according to the assumed fee level. The formula is as follows:

 

N620 48. formula

 

49.Programme weight: This is the total weight of the programme, after the actual approved cost of service delivery, enrolment numbers and programme duration have been taken into account. The programme weight (PW) is expressed to one decimal place, and T is the actual total funding weight (ATFW) multiplied by full-time equivalent students (FTE):

 

N620 49. formula

 

50.Labour market segment: This is the segment of the labour market receiving the chief focus of a programme entered in the formula funding grid. This specification occurs in the formula funding grid to encourage a focus on labour market imperatives. It does not influence the funding formula directly. The values in this column would refer to the following labour market segments: employed persons; unemployed persons 15-24 years of age, unemployed persons 25-34 years of age; unemployed adults over age 35. Values are entered in the column to represent the most prevalent labour market status of enrolled students. If the same programme is being offered to different groups of students that are clearly distinct in terms of their labour market status, the same programme should be repeated in the formula funding grid. The determination of the labour market segment, which would often relate to anticipated, not actual, enrolment, must occur during the joint DHET-college planning process described in paragraph 95 below.

 

51.Past successful completions: This is the number of students who successfully completed the programme in question during one or more past years. The precise number of past years to be considered is determined during the medium-term joint DHET-college planning process. Past successful completions, together with past enrolments (see the next paragraph) are used to gauge the efficiency of service delivery during previous years, and hence the eligibility of the college for output bonus funding in the bottom-line determinations.

 

52.Past enrolments: This is the number of students who could have completed the programme in question, in other words the number of enrolled students, during the past one or more years. The years considered and the rules for counting students would be the same  as for the past successful completions (see previous paragraph).